USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 51
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Mr. Kng came to Portland with his pa- rents in 1869, and in the public schools of that city received his education, his father being one of the teachers therein and for several years the principal of one of the leading schools until he formed a partner- ship with his step-son, W.m. P. Olds, and succeeded Mr. John Wilson in the dry goods business, under the firm name of Olds & King. In 1878 Mr. King entered the employ of this firm as a clerk, remain- ing with them until 1892. In this year the personnel of the firm was changed by the retirement therefrom of Prof. King and the incorporation of the enterprise. At this time Mr. King became a stockholder and vice-president of the corporation. The con- duct of this great establishment requires close application to details, forethought and suavity of manner, al coupled with the strictest integrity of character-a business capacity embracing a very versatile mind. It is needless to state that the part Mr. King has taken in the destinies of the cor- poration has shown him to be possesed of these superior qualities.
On October 8, 1890, he was united in marriage with Miss Fanny B. Hunt, a na- tive of Rhode Island. Mrs. King came to Oregon in 1899. The fruits of this union has been one cihld, a daughter now aged three years.
CAPT. WILLIAM IRVING.
Captain William Irving. a man . whose name will be well remembered as long as steam and sail vessels move in the waters of the Northwest, was born in Annan, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1816, and died at New Westminister. B. C., August 28. 1872. He began his sea-going career at an early age, sailing all over the world while still a young man. In the early forties he was mate on the brig Tuscany, plying between New York and English ports, and a singu- lar coincidence in connection with this was that the captain of the brig was Richard Hoyt, and the steward Richard Williams, three men who were destined, in after years, to play a most important part in the establishment of steam navigation on the
Willamette and Columbia rivers. Capt. Irving first arrived in Oregon in 1849 as master and part owner of the bark Success, with which he entered the coasting trade. Within a year or two after his arrival he laid the foundation for his fortune by pur- chasing a large tract of land on the east side of the Willamette; and, as the city of Portland spread in this direction, it became immensely valuable. Capt. Irving's first steamboat venture was the little Eagle, which he brought up on the deck of the bark Success, and placed on the Portland and Oregon City route, afterward selling her to Wells and Williams. Later he bought the Express, and, associated with others, owned a number of equally well known pioneer steamers. About 1858 he sold out his seamboat interest in Oregon and went to British Columbia, where he joined his old partner, Alexander S. Murry, and built the first steamer constructed in British Columbia, the Governor Douglas, following her with the Colonel Moody, with which he made the first successful trip to Yale in 1861. In 1862 he sold his interest in the Douglas and Moody and built the Reliance, running her until 1866, when he built the Onward. Almost from the time of his arrival on the Fraser he was en- gaged in fighting red-hot opposition; but, with his indomitable will and unflinching determination, which is inherited in no small degree by his son. Commodore John Irving, he emerged from each engagement victorious, and at the time of his death stood at the head of his profession, ad- mired even by his business rivals, and re- vered by a host of friends, who felt in his death an irreparable loss. In speaking of his many virtues, a friend said at the time of his death: "His purse was always at the disposal of any one in need, and his generosity was unrestricted by class, faith or nationality. He knew no distinction in his bounty, and he never allowed a former injury to interfere with a present occasion for timely aid. He was a gentleman in the true sense of the term."
Capt. Irving was married to Miss Eliza- beth Dixon in 1851. Five children, one son and four daughters, was the fruits of this union. These were: Commodore John Irving, of Victoria, B. C., Mary (Mrs. T. L. Briggs), Susan (Mrs. G. Cox), Eliza- beth (Mrs. Capt. E. W. Spencer), and Nel- lie (Mrs. W. S. Chandler).
GEORGE WASHINGTON SHAVER.
This well known pioneer was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, March 2, 1832. When quite young he moved to Missouri with his parents. He caught the gold fever and started with an ox team for the Pacific coast, arriving in California in 1849. The folowing year he came to Ore- gon and settled on a farm in he Waldo
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hills of Marion county. Later he went to Southern Oregon and engaged in mining, af- terwards coming to Portland, where he marrled Sarah Dixon, a daughter of James Dixon, a Southern Oregon pioneer, February 2. 1854. After his marriage he returned to his farm, where four children were born. In 1860 he moved to Portland, settling in what is now known as Elzabeth Irving's addition, where his family has since re- sided. Six more children were born, mak- Ing a family of 10 children, all surviving except two.
For many years the deceased supplied all the wood used by the steamers plying between Portland and San Francisco, be- sides also numerous river boats, in early days there being no coal fields as yet dis- covered on the Pacific coast. The most of this wood came from the timber then cov- ering the site of East Portland.
He was principally known in the steam- boat business. being at the time of his death president of the Shaver Transporta- tion Company, one of the leading lines of steamers plying upon the lower Willam- ette and Columbia rivers. His sons are in- terested in the company and have active management. The boats this company has built and purchased includes, among others, the Sarah Dixon, G. W. Shaver, No Won- der, Emma Hayward, Manzanilla and J. B. Stephens.
The deceased was a man of strong char- acter, absolutely honest and fearless in all dealings, and during his residence in Port- land he has held many positions of trust. He always retained the respect and es- teem of those who knew him. He was ever ready and willing to help the needy. In earlier years. when schools, churches and other public institutions were lacking, George W. Shaver was invariably found ready to contribute to the cause.
his wife and eight children survive him. One son, William, died when young; Mrs. Ella Johnson, a daughter, died in 1889. The children living are: John Riley, residing at Molalla; Mary Alice, wife of H. W. Wittenberg; Captain James W., Captain Lincoln, Captain George M .. and Captain Delmer; Susan Elizabeth, wife of A. S. Heintz; Pearl M., wife of George W. Hoyt.
EMIL BORIES, M. D.
The gentleman of whom we write is the son of one of the first Jewish ministers that came to Portland, Oregon. From boy- hood to early manhood he lived in that city. He was born in Auval, Bohemia. Aus- tria, July 12, 1852, coming to the United States when a very small child. His pa- rents were Rev. Herman and Rosa (Frei- man) Bories, and a grandson of Joachin Bories, well known in Austria.
The doctor received his elementary edu- cation in Sacramento. Cal., Portland and San Francisco. Prof. T. M. Gatch, who taught the old Portland Academy of Port- land, often was pleased to class him among his brightest pupils. In 1891 he received the degree of A. M. from the Society of American Literature and Arts. In his teens he adopted the trade of watchmaker and jeweler, becoming very proficient in that avocation. In 1874 he went to McMinn- ville and began business, but the medical profession being alluring, he occupied his spare moments in learning a knowledge of drugs and soon took up the study of the curative art. From this place he removed to Dayton, Wash., where he again began business, all the while continuing his stud- ies. While here, in 1880, a smallpox epi- demic broke out and he at once offered his services, going among those afflicted with the dread disease, relieving and ad- ministering to them. In 1881 he accepted a position as assistant to the surgeon in charge of the hospital conducted by the Northern Pacific railroad, then under con- struction. Again the smallpox became prev- alent along the line, and to his immediate charge was given the patients suffering with it. In stamping it out. and in his treatment of those afflicted with it, he had the best of success. Soon after this he went East and attended Bellevue Hospital Med- ical College, New York, and the Medical de- partment of the University of Vermont, re- ceiving from the latter institution the de- gree of M. D. in 1885.
On his return to the coast he located in Dayton, Wash., where he remained until 1894, except some six months spent in Sno- homish, when he removed to Seattle. From that time to the present he has made the latter city his home, and is recognized as one of its leading physicians.
The doctor is professor of Materia Med- ica in the department of pharmacy of the State University of Washington and lec- tures before the Seattle Hospital Training School, as well as the School of Arts and Designs. His knowledge of chemistry fre- quently brings him some very difficult sub- jects for analysis, doing much work for the authorities in this behalf. In 1897 he was appointed quarantine officer for the port of Seattle. He is a member of the In- land Medical Society, State Medical Society of Washington. American Medical Associa- tion, National Association of Railway Sur- geons, Pharmaceutical Association of Wash- ington, Delta Medical Society of Burlington. Vermont. He s a registered pharmacist of the state of Washington, a medical licen- tiate of the states of Oregon, Vermont and California, and is at present medical exam- iner for several fraternal and beneficiary societies. He has also held the positions of resident surgeon of the Washington
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and Columbia River Railway, county coro- ner, city health officer, physician of Colum- bia county, Wash., and lecturer on hy- giene, physiology, chemistry and anatomy before the Dayton High School.
Among the fraternities he is connected with may be mentioned the Masonic, in which includes the higher degrees, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and others.
As an author he occupies no mean place. Of the articles from his facile pen the fol- lowing have received marked praise: "Cocaine Hydrochlorate in Sea-Sickness," Southern California Practitioner, June, 1886; "Apomorphia and Antipyrine in Asthma," Ibid, July, 1888; "Electrolysis in the Treatment of Warts,' Philadelphia, 1888, and "Permagnate of Potassium in Rattlesnake Poisoning," Medical World, September, 1891.
He has also made some very decided im- provements, which might better be termed an invention, n the stethoscope, intended, with the aid of electricity, to distinguish the sounds of the heart and other import- ant organs more clearly. This is not, how- ever, as yet ready for general use.
On October 14, 1890, the doctor was unit- ed in marriage with Miss Carrie Gunder- sheimer, of Baker City, Oregon. They have one chld, a son, Henry Villard Bories.
DOUGLAS W. TAYLOR.
Douglas W. Taylor, one of the most trustworthy officials of the city of Port- land, Oregon, has been a resident of the state since childhood, his parents having emigrated to the Pacific Coast in 1854. He was born at Muscatine, Iowa, January 23, 1851. His father, Peter Taylor, was a native of Perth, Scotland. He crossed the sea to America in 1847, and in 1852 he came overland to Oregon. The following year he sent for his family,and they sail- ed from the Port of New York by way of the Isthmus, arriving in Portland January 8, 1854. Here Douglas W. Taylor was reared to manhood, receiving his educa- tion in the common schools and in the Portland Academy, graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1868. In early youth he began surveying, and did considerable work for the railroad com- panies. By 1874. at the age of 23. he had established a reputation that warranted his appointment to he office of City Sur- veyor of Portland. He was succeeded by another appointee. through adverse polit- ical majority in the city council. In 1883 he was reapponted, holding the office for two years. In June, 1886, he was elected to the state legislature as one of the rep- resentatives from Multnomah county. He did not have an oportunity to serve in this capacty. however. as in July of the same year he was appointed United States Surveyor General for Oregon,
which position he held until August, 1890, In June, 1891. he was elected Superin- tendent of Streets of Portland, and per- formed the duties of that office reflecting great credit upon himself and benefit to the city. From 18tv to 1891 either him- self or Mr. W. S. Chapman was city Sur- veyor of portland, each of whom were of the same graduating class of 1868.
Mr. Taylor belongs to the A. O. U. W. and the Masonic fraternity. In the latter order has advanced well to the fore, being a past master of the Blue Lodge, past High Priest of the Chapter, past Eminent commander of Oregon Commandery, Knights Templar, and a member of the 33 deg. Scotish Rite.
Mr. Taylor was united in mariage in 1879 to Miss Alice Carr, a native of Cali- fornia, and to them have born three sons: Douglas W., Jr., Richard B., and Henry P.
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN.
Was born August 29, 1852, at Pacific City, on Baker's Bay, on the north side of the mouth of we Columbia river in the terri- tory of Oregon. In 1854 that portion of Ore- gon became part of the territory, and in 1889 the state of Washington. His parents were James D. Holman and Rachel H. Hol- man (nee Summers) both natives of Ken- tucky and of old Suthern families. They came to Oregon with the emigration of 1846, and their lives exemplified the highest type of the Oregon pioneer.
Mr. Holman's birthplace as a town has been wiped out of existence. About the time he was born it gave promise of becom- ing the commercial and shipping center of the country then known as Oregon, and all of his father's considerable fortune was invested there; but the government took the place for a military reservation and the valuable and costly inmprovements were subjected to decay.
In 1853, Mr. Holman's father moved on his donation claim adjoining Pacific City, the site of the present town of Ilwaco. The family moved to wortland in 1857. Mr. Holman attended for a while the public schools and afterwards the old Portland Academy, graduating therefrom in 186S. For four years thereafter he served as mail- ing clerk of the "Daily Herald," a Portland daily paper, preparing himself at the same time for college. In 1872 he entered the University of California, graduating June 9, 1875. Returning to Portiand he began the study of law and he was admitted to the bar Jaunary 8, 1879. Since that time he has practiced his profession at Portland. At school, at the Academy, at the Univer- sity and in the law, he was always a thor- ough student. When he began his career he was fully equipped, not only with am- ple preparation for professional work, but
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with singleness of purpose. His ability in conducting to succesful issue several im- portant suits attracted attention and as- ,isted in giving him his present large practice. Mr. Holman occupies as a law- yer a position of the first rank in the state of Oregon.
Politically, Mr. Holman is a Democrat. He is not and never was a seeker for of- fice, but he interests himself in politics as the duty of a citizen. In 1892 he was a delegate at large from Oregon to the Democratic National Convention. In 1896 he attended, as proxy for the Democratic National Committeman from Oregon, the noted Democratic National Convention held at Chicago. In almost every campaign since 1870, he has made political speeches, and in the presidential campaign of 1900 he added no little to his reputation as a pub- llc speaker.
WINFIELD S. CHAPMAN.
Among the first to be born in Portland, Oregon, was the gentleman whose name heads this article, the date of his birth being July 3, 1850. His parents were Col. W. W. and Margaret Fee (Ingraham), Chapman, who came across the plains in 1847, and to Portland in 1849. From 1853 to 1861 he was a resident of Southern Ore- gon, living there with his parents. In the latter year the paternal roof was again established in Portland, and Mr. Chapman has continued to reside there ever since with the exception of about two years spent in Alaska. He remembers the rais- ing of the first tall flag staff erected on one of the plaza blocks in 1853, and says that some of the limbs of the fir trees standing near had to be cut away so as to facili- tate the raising.
The greater portion of his education was secured while attending the old Portland Academy, from which he graduated in the class of 1868. His inclinations led him to engineering for an occupaton, an avo- cation which he has generally followed, still he has devoted considerable time to editorial work on newspapers. The day after his graduation he entered the office of the city surveyor of Portland as as- sistant, and a year subsequent to attain- ing his majority became the chief of that department, remaining in the position two years when he was relieved from duty by the appointment of a democrat, that party having secured control of the council.
In 1878 he established the Daily Bee, of which he was editor. Under his guid- ance it was popular and successful, but after selling, it met with disaster and sus- pended. In the fall of 1878 he again en- tered the employ of the city as surveyor, retaining the position until 1881. In this
year the democracy came into power in the council and he was again relieved. In 1883 the republicans held the majority, and he was placed in charge as before. It is quite a coincidence that the gentleman succeed- ing him on both the occasions when ad- verse politics removed him, that his suc- cessor was one of his Academy graduating classmates-Douglas W. Taylor. The cir- cumstances did not, however, alter their life-long friendship for each other, both treating the matter as it was-politics.
In 1884 he resigned the office of sur- veyor to accept that of superintendent of streets, holding the latter until 1891 when the office became elective. He was ten- dered the nomination but declined, as his private business claimed his attention to such an extent that he must give up one or the other.
During the "seventies" he devoted ser- eral thousand dollars to assist his father in the projected railroad from Salt Lake to Portland, and surveyed a portion of the line at his own expense. In the "eight- ies" he was the controlling spirit in the operation of the Jefferson street steam ferry, which, after determined litigation, broke the hold the Stark street ferry monopoly had maintained for so many years previously. He was also interested in the construction of the waterworks on the east side of the river, and obtained the franchise for and located and planned the Madison street bridge, but sold the ferry and franchise before work had progressed far on the building of the bridge.
The panic of 1893 found him loaded up with about $200,000 worth of real estate, the decline in which was so great that his entire wealth was swept away, and he was obliged to begin again on the road to for- tune. In 1899 he went to Skagway, Alaska, and while there edited the Daily Alaskan, but gave up the position to return to Port- land to prepare for departure to Cape Nome, where he went in the spring of 1900. taking along, as part owner, an outfit of machinery for the purpose of extracting gold from the reputed valuable beach sands. In the venture he fared like others going for the same purpose. There was not yenow metal enough in the sand to pay for wor ... ng it. and n consequence the endeavor met with failure. Mr. Chapman is of that class which does not stop at de- feat, but when it comes begins over again and strives to win. He will yet know suc- cess, for brainy men always take the lead and are the managers of this world's af- fairs.
Mr. Chapman si unmarried, and this may be due to the fact that he promised his mother that he would remain single while she lived. He was noted for liis devotion to his parents, and no son could have done
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more for the authors of his birth at all times and especially during the winter of their years, than he did.
HARRA DAVIS CHAPMAN.
The subject of this sketch was born on the site of the county courthouse of Mult- nomah county, Oregon, March 17, 1853, his parents' home then standing where the above-named edifice is to be seen. His father was Col. W. W. Chapman, one of the owners of the townsite upon which sortland is builded, and his mother, Marga- ret Fee (Ingham) Chapman. They were pioneers of 1847.
The first school our subject attended was the old stone college of Eugene, situated on College hill in that city. This was from 1859 to 1861. At this time his parents were residents of that place, but in the latter year they returned to Portland, and he was sent to the old Portland Academy to finish his studies. It is with great satisfaction that he claims this institution as his "alma mater," he having graduated therefrom in the class of 1868, probably its youngest graduate, as he was only fifteen years of age at the time. Like all of the youth of the earler existence of Portland, he was an active fireman and belonged to the mil- itia companies, being at one time orderly sergeant of the Washington Guards, and subsequently first lieutenant of the City Rifles.
In 1874 he began life on his own respon- sibility, leaving Portland and going to Cal- ifornia, where he was employed as as- sistant engineer in the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad, during the time laying out the townsites of Lemore and Hanford. Latterly, under E. W. Gillette, the present chief assitsant engineer of the Southern Pacific Company, he had charge of the construction of the last fifty miles of ralroad across the Colorado desert, leading into Fort Yuma. In 1877 he was in Portland for a short time, and then went to Eastern Oregon, and, in connection
H. McCartney, surveyed a line of railroad over the Blue mountains. Completing this, he returned again to Portland, where he remained until the spring of 1878, when he removed to Walla Walla to accept a posi- tion in the city and county surveyor's of- fice. Subsequently he was elected to the office of city surveyor and served three terms therein.
In 1885 the question of railroad connec- tion from Walla Walla with the Northern Pacific, at a point on the Columbia river, in competition with the O. R. & N. Co., be-
came a live issue. The board of trade, of which Mr. Chapman was secretary, took the matter in hand, securing subscriptions barely sufficient to make the surveys and pay the cost of other preliminary work. Several conflicting interests, which had riders to place upon the enterprise, each endeavored to have an engineer friendly to itslf appointed to make the survey of the proposed line. Mr. Chapman knew. however, that success could be assured only by employing an engineer who was in- dependent of such interests, unbiased and could not be swayed by any influences other than the good of the community, and who was willing to take what was left for pay, consequently he did the work himself. Meeting C. B. Wright and T. F. Oakes. then the president and the general man- ager, respectively, of the Northern Pacific. at Wallula, he succeeded in inducing them to look into the enterprise, and a son of Mr. Wright, C. B. Wright, Jr., soon after took the matter up. and with Geo. W. Hunt built the road. The importance of his work in this connection was not recognized until Mr. Chapman had ceased to be a res- ident of Walla Walla for some two years. when the board of trade, awakening to the occasion, passea resolutions lauditory of his actions, covering much space in the columns of the daily papers of that city. While a resident of Walla Walla, Mr. Chap. man was the constructing engineer of sev- eral of the largest flumes constructed in the Walla Walla valley, notably, the Gov. Moore and Dr. Blalock flumes. He, sup- ported by his brother, W. S. Chapman, also organized the Farmers' Railway, Naviga- tion & Steamboat Portage Company, for the building of a boat railway and portage railroad around the Dalles of the Colum- bia. This was the father of the present Paul F. Mohr enterprise, as Mr. Mohr and Mr. Cannon became identified with him in his enterprise about 1887, and in 1889 purchased his entire interest, losing him from the enterprise with unfeigned regret.
In 1886 Mr. Chapman returned to Port- land and engaged in the real estate busi- ness, remaining there ever since, with the exception of about five years on a farm located in Chehalis county, Washington. In the fall of 1889 he became a stockholder in the Native Son Publishing Company. publishers of the "Oregon Native Son." over which he and Mr. F. H. Saylor have the management and editorial control.
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